I’ve been on training rides where I’ve had older adults who didn’t like me because, one, the color of my skin, and two, I was better than them. This is as a kid, having a white guy in his 40s tell me to get off a ride.

You go to Europe and it’s the same level of ignorance and racism. When I was a year out of college, I was fortunate to get a job with Jonathan Vaughters, went over to Europe, my teammates were Danny Pate, Mike Friedman, Tyler Farrar, all those guys. They’d never taken a break to go to school and I had. I remember I had another month left to be there and I remember being in car, overhearing the director or someone saying, ‘he’s no good.’ It’s like, ‘dude, I just spent the last five years at Indiana University.’

Seriously, take a few minutes to read it.

Because Bahati’s not saying anything he hasn’t said for years. The only difference is, people are finally paying attention.

There’s a special place in hell for the bike thieves who targeted a blind bike shop owner in Medford, Oregon, who’s crowdfunding money to stay in business after his shop was hit by thieves multiple times in recent weeks; the campaign has raised over $5,600 in just three days., more than making up for losing $5,000 worth of bicycles.

A Newport Beach driver was apparently surprised to discover the city’s Balboa Boulevard filled with protesters demanding justice for George Floyd.

But instead of hitting the brakes, or simply turning around, like any reasonable person would, he plowed through the assembled crowd, parting people like Moses parting the seas, until finally hitting someone.

Meanwhile, LA’s I. Martin lost $130,000 worth of bikes and gear, a number that could have been higher if they hadn’t sold off much of their inventory while the shop was closed due to the coronavirus; owner Martin Wolff joined with community members to fight off the looters.

This may not be your conversation topic of choice but it’s something that we must address. As white cyclists, we have a social responsibility to take direct action toward tangible change within the cycling community and the community at large. It’s not enough to simply not be racist. As Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at the American University, said during a recent edition of CBC’s The Current, “To say you are not racist is to deny your racism. We’re either being racist or anti-racist at all times.”

The rumors drifted in late Saturday night, carried on the acrid smoke from burning buildings.

By morning, they were confirmed.

On a night when we could smell the smoke from the fires on TV, and social media was filled with looters in LA’s normally sedate and formerly kosher Fairfax District, fears grew that local bike shops may have been among the victims.

Along with anyone who may have left their bikes with them for service.

Because it wasn’t just the shoe stores, computer stores, Whole Foods and Nordstrom that got looted.

He’s had his store on Melrose for 20 years. It stayed open during the pandemic because it was considered an essential business. But, now, he estimates his losses from one night of looting could total $100,000.

“They not only took my bikes, they took customers’ bikes as well,” he said.

The owners of I. Martin could probably cite a similar figure.

I’m told looters broke in through the back door and emptied the bike shop in a matter of minutes.

Although in their case, the shop had been closed since March, so hopefully there were no customer’s bicycles still inside.

Then Sunday afternoon, as people peacefully protested near Santa Monica’s Tongva Park, looters were busting into businesses just a few blocks away.

REI seemed to be saved when some of the legitimate protesters stood in front of the store to turn looters away.

Presumably, the store’s bikes went out the door, as well; it’s not clear if REI was open for service or if any bikes belonging to customers were inside.

It’s also not clear when, or if, these stores will reopen.

Just like hundreds of other businesses, owned by major corporations and individual, often immigrant, proprietors through this troubled city.

………

Needless to say, bicycling took a back seat to the protests for many people across the US this weekend.

Apparently forgetting what started the protests to begin with, a Seattle bike cop puts a protester in a chokehold after attempting, and failing, to squeeze by on his right on a sidewalk.

Same thing happens a few blocks later. Bike cop tries to pass a marcher on his right with nowhere near enough room. Marcher inevitably makes contact and the officer puts him in a headlock pic.twitter.com/5aZ4jKweyW

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence, due to an unanticipated ride on diabetic blood sugar rollercoaster.

Yet another reminder to do whatever it takes to get your own blood sugar under control before it’s too late, because you seriously don’t want this crap.

Never mind that diabetes puts you at greater risk of serious complications from Covid-19.

Fun times.

………

Yes, it’s true.

For weeks now, we’ve been linking to stories reporting about a nationwide bike boom brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

And lately, about how that boom is leading to a looming lack of bicycles across the US, as local bike shops sell out of their existing stock, and the usual endless bike pipeline unexpectedly dries up.

That was confirmed locally when I spoke with Carlos Morales, my brother from another mother and owner of Stan’s Bike Shop in Azusa, who says he’s never seen anything like it.

According to Morales, he’s spoken with longtime bike shop owners who say there hasn’t been anything like this since the bike boom of the ’70s.

He says his shop has been so busy that he sometimes has to lock the front door to prevent overcrowding, or just catch his breath for a few minutes.

Morales has been lucky so far that he’s been able to develop sources for bikes and parts outside the usual distributors, and has been able to keep his store fully stocked as a result. In fact, he says his shop is overflowing with tubes and tires right now.

Many others haven’t been so lucky, telling Morales that the bikemakers and distributors they usually rely on have run out of bicycles, and aren’t expecting to restock until late summer or fall.

Which could make for a very long summer.

I heard the same thing from another source yesterday, when I exchanged emails with Alison Littlefield, owner of Utah’s Contender Bicycles.

Yes, Utah has been the same. It is wild. In mid-March when all of this hit, I don’t think anyone could have predicted that bike biz would boom. It is just crazy and we should all consider ourselves very, very lucky. In the winter even before COVID, I felt like we were a little heavy on inventory but I am sure happy we were.

Maybe this is exactly what the bicycle industry needs.

Just a few short months ago, many shops were hurting. It wasn’t unusual to see reports of longtime shops going under, or owners throwing in the towel after deciding it just wasn’t worth it anymore.

But many of those bike shops that have managed to stay open during the coronavirus lockdowns are reaping the rewards.

Even those without bikes left to sell are struggling to keep up with service requests.

Morales says repair work at his shop is now taking about five days. Which is short compared to other SoCal shops he’s spoken with, where it can take as long as 25 days just to get a bike on the bench, let alone do the actual work.

Of course, the question is what will happen when businesses reopen, and drivers flood back onto the streets.

Other cities have installed temporary bike lanes during the pandemic, with an eye towards making them permanent when this is finally over. Or building out the city’s bike plan while streets are quieter and the work can be done faster.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, is doing nothing.

No bike lanes. No progress on Vision Zero. Not even the “comprehensive Citywide network of active transportation corridors” that were promised just a few months ago, when the mayor unveiled his latest iteration of the city’s Green New Deal with typical fanfare.

With the typical lack of followthrough so far.

That matters.

Because the clock is ticking. It takes about three months for bicycling to become a habit for a new rider, according to Morales.

And as we’ve all too often seen, once someone gets frightened off the streets, they seldom come back.

Right now, we have a once in a generational opportunity to reshape our streets, and change the way people get around this city.

But so far, Los Angeles is blowing it.

Which means when motorists come back, we’ll be back in exactly the same mess we were in before.

And our streets will continue to grind to a halt, until no one can go anywhere.

Bike shop photo by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.

………

I found Ms. Littlefield by following one of those typically winding online trails, fueled by lockdown boredom, which somehow led to a search for corgi bike jerseys.

No, really.

And unexpectedly turned up this.

Needless to say, I had to have it.

But when I couldn’t find it on the Contender website, Littlefield explained I was a few years too late. The jersey was for long past fundraiser for the Utah Humane Society.

A Beverly Hills newspaper says the bicycling trend is growing stronger in the city. Which is something no one would have expected just a few years ago; although you’ll have to click through and download the online edition of the paper to access the story.

Leave it to New Orleans not to pass up a chance to get naked. Even though this year’s edition of the World Naked Bike Ride has been cancelled most places, Big Easy riders will still strip down and saddle up, albeit in multiple rides of less than ten people.

This is an area I also ride often. It’s mostly an agricultural area with many date trees. There are no bike lanes, but with a low level of traffic, it’s relatively safe as drivers usually just move over into the oncoming traffic lanes. I must mention that there are no street lights in that entire area and at night it’s not a place to ride. My guess is this person was perhaps homeless or poor, and a bike was the only form of transportation available to him or her.

This is at least the 23rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Riverside County.

It’s also the third person killed riding a bike in Southern California in the past two days, following deaths in Irvine and San Diego on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his or her loved ones.

Local

LA’s proposed new budget includes a $3.4 million cut to Vision Zero, which is already dramatically underfunded; CD4 city council candidate Nithya Ramen points out that two-thirds of the city’s $233 million in Covid-19 induced budget cuts could be avoided if LAPD officers simply agreed to put off a raise they negotiated last year.

An Oklahoma driver faces a first degree manslaughter charge for killing a bike rider while speeding and driving distracted. The police investigation also concluded that the driver didn’t give the victim the required three-foot passing distance. Which would seem obvious, since he ran into him.